Checking Headers

You can use cURL to see the headers sent in a request. I use this all the time to see if the headers I’m trying to send in a script are working right.

$ curl -I http://www.google.com

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2012 02:45:58 GMT
Expires: -1
Cache-Control: private, max-age=0
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
(...)

Sending POST Requests

I was working on a project recently that involved receiving POST requests from a client script running on another server. Since there was no convenient HTML form to use to repeatedly test changes made to the API, I ended up using cURL. Sending POST data is a simple matter of passing an argument that looks something like a query string.

curl http://example.org/url-to-recieve-post-request -d "name=Gandalf&type=wizard";

Spoofing User Agents

You can edit the user agent sent along with the request, which is another thing I’ve found useful in testing.

curl http://example.org -d "name=Gandalf&type=wizard" --user-agent "WordPress"

Downloading Files

While my first instinct is usually to use wget to quickly snag a remote file, that particular package isn’t installed on every system. I don’t believe OS X includes it by default (though that’s nothing Homebrew can’t take care of), for example. cURL can also be used to quickly download and save a remote URL to your current directory.

curl -O http://wordpress.org/latest.zip

So I made an Alfred extension that will open any supplied path in a new Finder window. No fancy searching, just a direct “open this.” It uses the standard “cd ~/Documents/GitHub” syntax experienced users of the command line will be familiar with. It even escapes spaces automatically.

Installation Instructions

• Download the FinderPath extension
• Unzip the archive and double-click the resulting FinderPath.alfredextension file
• Alfred should do the rest

While I don’t know why it’s happening, exactly, I do have a fix. The wait goes away if you put the local entries on one line.

Instead of having something like this:

#virtual hosts
127.0.0.1 myproject.dev
127.0.0.1 wordpress.dev
127.0.0.1 somesuch.dev

You need to have this:

#virtual hosts
127.0.0.1 myproject.dev wordpress.dev somesuch.dev

Leave the lines that say “localhost” alone, of course. Messing with those could cause all manner of Bad Things.

I can’t believe it took me so long to find it, but there is an extension for Quick Look that adds color coding to source files in most common languages. QLColorCode, as it is called, is compatible with every version of OS X from Leopard to Mountain Lion. You just drop the .qlgenerator file into ~/Library/QuickLook or /Library/QuickLook and enjoy your improved Quick Look functionality.

QLColorCode [Google Code]

Federico Viticci included a couple of PHP scripts in his review that interface with the Tweetbot uploader and save the image to either Rackspace Files or your own server.

Well, I didn’t want to be left out of the fun, so I wrote one for Imgur, the supremely famous image host that grew out of Reddit’s habit of using up other image hosts’ low per-image bandwidth allotments.

<?php
 
class TweetbotImgurEndpoint {
 
 
    private $api_key;
    private $api_url = "https://api.imgur.com/3/upload.json";
    private $file_temp_location;
    private $file_name;
     
 
 
    function __construct($api_key, $file_temp_location, $file_name) {
        $this->api_key = $api_key;
        $this->file_temp_location = $file_temp_location;
        $this->file_name = $file_name;
        $this->upload();
    }
 
 
 
    private function upload() {
 
        $image_info = getimagesize($this->file_temp_location);
 
        if ($image_info !== false && in_array($image_info['mime'], array("image/png", "image/jpeg", "image/pjpeg", "image/gif"))) {
            $fh = fopen($this->file_temp_location, "rb");
            $file_contents = fread($fh, filesize($this->file_temp_location));
            fclose($fh);
            $data = array("image" => base64_encode($file_contents));
            $options = array('http' => array(
                'method'  => 'POST',
                'header' => 'Authorization: Client-ID ' . $this->api_key,
                'content' => http_build_query($data)
            ));
            $context  = stream_context_create($options);
            $result = file_get_contents($this->api_url, false, $context);
            $result = json_decode($result);
            $url = $result->data->link;
            echo json_encode(array('url' => $url));
        } else {
            echo "Could not upload image: invalid format.";
        }
 
    }
 
 
 
}
 
 
if ($_POST) {
    $imgur_api_key = 'YOUR_IMGUR_CLIENT_ID'; //replace with the "client ID" Imgur gives you
    $imgur = new TweetbotImgurEndpoint($imgur_api_key, $_FILES['media']['tmp_name'], $_FILES['media']['name']);
}

Just upload that to your web server, replace YOUR_IMGUR_CLIENT_ID with a client ID obtained from here. (You want to select the “anonymous usage without user authorization” option.)

Edit, 2013/10/25: Imgur has since changed their API. This post has been updated to reflect the changes. If you’re looking for the original code, for version 2 of the API, it can be found in this GitHub Gist.

Simulator at least fits on the 30″, barely. twitter.com/tapbot_paul/st…

— Paul Haddad (@tapbot_paul) March 9, 2012

If you’re not familiar with iOS development, the Simulator is used to run an Xcode project on a Mac instead of waiting for the freshly compiled binary to sync to the device and then launch. (Also, sometimes you may not have an iOS device handy while you’re making a minor bug fix…or you might not have an iPad yet at all!)

I can’t be the only one to think it strange that Apple would, in the long term, make it difficult for developers to work on their apps on anything other than a desktop Mac driving a 30″ monitor. (That’s a surefire way to cut down on software for the new iPad!)

This, to me at least, seems like a strong suggestion that a refresh of the MacBook Pro line is on the way, bringing with it screen resolutions equal to or higher than the iPad’s. Maybe the iMacs will get a resolution bump, too.

Edit: Ars Technica is now reporting (it’s uncanny, they posted just a few hours after me…) that the latest Mountain Lion beta has double-sized graphic resources, indicating that this is something Apple is at least working towards.

Fortunately, the solution is simple.

You just need to run sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup and follow the on-screen prompts. You would usually use the arrow keys to traverse the menus, but that isn’t exactly possible, is it? Pressing the first letter of the option you’re looking for until it cycles up and is selected works fine, though. (Apple Laptop, USA-style layout, etc.) The full instructions on what you should pick for MacBooks are available here.

Now, moving in and out of the VM window is a little bit annoying, so I installed an SSH server.

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

Easy enough. Now you can SSH into the server from a native Terminal session, which is easier to Command+Tab in and out of, and you can make use of the clipboard. Not being able to copy and paste sure is limiting.

Now you only have one final obstacle standing between you and easily connecting to the server. Whether you’re using SSH or accessing a web page being served by the VM, you need to figure out the local IP address of the VM on the network and input that. Or you can set up ZeroConf, which lets other machines on the network automagically find the VM when you call it by name. Instead of addressing it as 192.168.0.255, you could use Ubuntu.local. (Very handy when you’re running game servers on your LAN.)

The following command will install the required packages to enable ZeroConf on the VM.

sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon avahi-discover avahi-utils libnss-mdns service-discovery-applet mdns-scan

Now you can reach the VM at thehostname.local, which is considerably easier than figuring out what IP your router has assigned it and pasting it in whenever you need it.

The long wait has grated both on our own nerves and those of our awesome users. But while we have kept quiet publicly about what we are working on, it is because privately we have been striving to transform our products into something new and even more awesome: Espresso 2. We are extremely excited to finally be able to show you what we have been working on, as this release will be of interest to both CSSEdit and Espresso users.

An early preview, the “kaboom” release, is already available for testing and upgrade path information has been posted.

• iOS 5 overhauls notifications, messaging while cutting the USB cord [Ars]
• The Big WWDC 2011 Keynote Roundup [Macstories]
• Apple iOS 5 iPhone / iPad 2 hands-on! [Boy Genius Report]
• 10 New Features to Get Stoked About in iOS 5 [AppStorm]
• Apple iOS 5 hands-on preview [Engadget]
• Apple Has Finally Stuck A Dagger Into SMS. I Love It. [TechCrunch]
• Apple iCloud announced for free, replaces MobileMe [Boy Genius Report]
• MobileMe stays live through June 30, 2012 [TUAW]
• Apple Introduces iCloud: Contact, Cal, Docs, Photos, and Music Syncing Free of Charge [TUAW]
• Mac OS X Lion to arrive in July via Mac App Store for $29 [Ars]
• Lion Server will be an extra $50 via the Mac App Store [Ars]
• Lion requirements: 64-bit CPU, 2 GB of RAM [TUAW]
• iBookstore Finally Comes To iTunes [Macstories]
• Find My iPhone 1.2 Released, Supports Notifications for Offline Devices [Macstories]
• App Store Now Lets You Download Not-Available Apps, Like Tweetie 1 [Macstories]
• WWDC 2011 Keynote Available for Streaming [Macstories]

After much waiting, the developer has finally released a beta of the application.

It’s very fast, taking only a couple seconds to launch. The interface is slick, particularly the pane that displays the current feed item. Caffeinated does a very good job at formatting the text and resizing images to fit cleanly into the content.

Of course, Reeder is also being beta tested now. Since news of Caffeinated started circulating around the internet, some competitors have shown up. Reeder, in particular, stands out. It will be interesting to see which app comes out of beta first, and how users react.

Caffeinated RSS Reader for Mac Finally Out As Beta [Macstories]